Every Race is an Adventure!

As is often the case, it started out begin another solo Monday morning run. I hadn't gone far before I heard footsteps. I thought it might be Kevin but when I turned to look I was surprised to see Lyle catching up to me. We ended up running the Lindon Loop together. Lyle is a beginning runner in our neighborhood, in his 50's I believe, who we've run with for short stretches a few times, but this was my first extended run with him. In fact, this was his first time running the entire Lindon Loop. He ran part of it with us a week or two ago but cut it off short.

Lyle is running really well this year. He was training for St. George last year but ended up with an ankle injury and then a pulled groin that prevented him from running. This morning he told me he decided he needed to carry less weight. He and his wife started eating better and he's lost 30 pounds since January. We saw him Saturday up Provo Canyon on his first ever 14 mile run and he was looking strong. We ran just under a 9:30 pace for six miles this morning and he had enough energy left to kick hard at the end. I told him if he wasn't careful he was going to become a real runner. I enjoyed running with him this morning.

I'm stuck in training Mon thru Wed this week so I'm not going to be able to get in my noon runs. Bummer! 

AM. Six easy miles with Larry and Wayne on the normal Tuesday route up the 2000 N hill. I'm stuck in training all day again today...although the warm chocolate chip cookies they gave us in the afternoon were sure good. I also have a 7:30am conference call this morning so I'd better get moving.

PM. They gave us an extra 15 minutes for lunch today so I sneaked in some more miles on the treadmill in the fitness center. Nathan was on the treadmill next to me. After a couple of miles Nathan taught me how to use the speed interval feature. He was switching between 7.8mph (7:42/mi) and 10mph (6:00/mi) every 2:00 minutes. I switched to do the same for another 2.5 miles.

I ran the regular water tank hills with Larry and Wayne this morning. We all took it pretty easy on the hills. Most of the conversation during the first part of the run was regarding our aches and pains. We must be getting old. Later in the run we referred to someone in his 30's as a youngin'.

Once again I pushed the pace the last downhill mile home. It wasn't all out. I let the brakes off and pushed enough to keep the momentum moving along and ran it in 5:52. It actually felt pretty good. It would be nice to be able to string some sub-6:00 miles together on the flat, but I'll take what I can get. I'm looking forward to the Provo River and Hobble Creek half marathons coming up in the next month. They both have some good downhill miles. They should be fun adventures. It will interesting, as always, to see how things unfold.

Wayne had a golf tournament this morning and Larry's resting his sore hamstring so I ran the 10 mile Thursday run to Provo Canyon solo this morning. Because I knew they weren't coming, and because I stayed up too late last night, I ended up sleeping in this morning and leaving a lot later than normal. I paid for it, as it started getting rather warm by the end of the run.

I ran a little past the 5 mile turn around so I could have two full miles back to the mouth of the canyon. I wanted to keep the average pace under 7:20 for these two miles. My splits were 7:17 and 7:09. I then dropped to recovery pace as I worked my way up the 800 N hill and back to 800 E and 1200 N. I decided to try another sub-7:20 mile on the flat stretch between 800 E and Main on 1200 N and made it in 7:17. I finished the 10.5 miles in 1:29:54 (8:34/mi).

My right hip (that has a little arthritis in it) is still sore in the mornings, some mornings worse than others, but it generally loosens up after a bit of running. I've never been very limber, and my right hip has been pretty tight for many years.  I can cross my left leg over my right knee easily, but I couldn't cross my right leg over my left knee. Both my doctor and chiropractor suggested stretches (a long time ago) to loosen it up. I've finally been doing some stretches in past weeks and I think I'm making progress. I think some of the pain I've been feeling in the mornings in my hip may be related to me extending the restricted range of motion my hip has been used to for many years.

I ran an easy mile before going to basketball this morning, mostly to loosen up my hip. We actually had 8 show up this morning and were able to play full court. It was a lot of fun and we got in some good exercise. I told the tall, quick high school age kid that was guarding me to slow down. I was pleased when he said he was just trying to keep up with me, and when Dean kept telling him to stay on me and not let me go back door. My performance was only satisfactory, not stellar, but I did manage to keep my energy up and hustle most of the game (four games actually).

After we got home I talked with Andrew for a while and then decided to get in a couple of more miles. Like earlier, I just ran the 1/2 mile loop in front of my house. I decided to go a 1/2 mile easy, push the middle mile, then cool down for a 1/2 mile. I was pretty tired, and had stiffened up a little, but I managed to run the middle mile in 7:09. I felt okay about that.

I'm taking a vacation day today. So far, besides basketball and running, I've mowed the front and back lawn; vacuumed, skimmed, and replaced the filter in our above ground pool; and replaced the GFI outlet in the garage. Next I get to buy paint and order carpet for one daughter's bedroom, and repair and refinish the vanity in the upstairs bathroom. If I have time I can install a new ceiling fan in another daughter's bedroom, and buy paint for a third daughter's bedroom. What a great vacation! Oh, I also need to figure out travel plans to get to my niece's wedding in Delaware in a couple of weeks. Fun, fun, fun! I think I'm going to need to draw on my marathon endurance training.

Wayne and I ran up South Fork from the mouth of the canyon and back this morning. Neither of us was sure how far we wanted to go, but at least 16. We decided to listen to our old bodies and take what they had to offer this morning.

We started just before 5:30am. We saw some other runners gathering in the darkness in the parking lot as we headed out. I thought one of them looked like Josse, and I probably should have walked over, but Wayne was ready to run so we just headed out. I think maybe subconsciously I didn't want to talk to Josse and find out how much of a harder workout she was doing, or worse yet, get talked into trying to join them. It turns out it was Josse and Michelle and some other runners I didn't recognize. We met up at Vivian where we had stopped at the bathroom and fountain. We said "Hi" but not much more as Wayne and I headed up South Fork and I believe the others continued on up the highway towards the dam.

Speaking of the highway, the trail was still closed from Bridal Veil to Vivian so, unlike last week, we ran on the highway up to Vivian instead of crossing the Sheriff's barricades. We soon discovered that there is a pretty big hill (7% grade) going on the highway, and it's about 1/4 mile longer to Vivian than the trail. And of course that hill has to be traversed in both directions.

Wayne and I, and both of our bodies, all agreed to turn around at the 8 mile mark just up from South Fork Park. I think I could have finished 18 or 20, but I've got a lot of honey do's today and if we would have gone much farther I wouldn't have been good for anything.

When we got back to the parking lot we met Tammy who had run 12 miles and was waiting for Josse and Michelle to finish their 22 miles. (I knew they'd be doing some killer workout that I wouldn't want anything to do with.) I was just glad we had beat the heat. My watch glitched during part of the run, but I think we averaged around 8:00/mi for the 16.2 mile run. It had some good hills in it and we still managed to run the last few miles pretty strong. Not a bad day for a couple of old guys.

Now on to the honey do's...